Timisoara Medical Journal

(1) Purpose: The employment of platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) in the extracted teeth socket has been shown to aid tissue healing. It also minimizes detrimental consequences. The rationale of this systematic review is to observe the possible association between PRF employment and postoperative consequences following mandibular third molar surgery. (2) Materials and Methods: The following databases were explored electronically (till 28 February 2021): PubMed, Cochrane library, Embase, International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP), and ClinicalTrials.gov. A manual explore was accomplished on various journals regarding the subject of oral and maxillofacial surgery. The online explore applied the keywords “platelet-rich fibrin or PRF,” and “mandibular third molar.” To review the efficiency of PRF, the accompanying post-operative consequences were collected: pain, swelling, trismus, inter-incisal distance, analgesic consumption, soft tissue healing, bone healing, socket complications, and periodontal parameters. (3) Results: Just 9 full-text studies out of 26 were comprised of review for qualitative analysis. All of the studies were randomized clinical trials (RCTs), with eight split-mouth designs and one parallel design study. Significant outcomes were usually observed for pain, postoperative swelling, mouth opening, periodontal pocket depth, soft tissue healing, and the incidence of alveolar osteitis or dry sockets, but not constantly. The qualitative scrutiny disclosed that the PRF had no considerable outcome in bone healing. (4) Conclusions: Local administration of PRF is a practical way of alleviating pain, trismus, oedema, and enhancing soft tissue healing following mandibular third molar extraction. PRF tends to have no function in bone healing following extraction. More controlled clinical trials and RCTs are necessitating exploring the end results of PRF following mandibular third molar extraction. Full article

(1) Aim: To analyze the publication output from Romania in the Web of Science (WoS) category of orthopedics. (2) Methods: We have used the WoS Core Collection Advanced Search between 2009 and 2018. (3) Results: Under the WoS Orthopedics category in SCI-Expanded, we found 72 articles with Romania as the country of origin, representing 0.105% of the total Romanian research output. Using journal rankings, distribution by quartile was: 1–12 (16.7%), 2–33 (45.8%), 3–9 (12.5%) and 4–18 (25%). Average citations in total and per year by category were: 1–22.6 range 1–91 (2.56), 2–8.85 range 0–30 (1.64), 3–8.44 range 1–30 (1.25), and 4–4.11 range 0–16 (0.74). Thirteen articles published from 1986 to 2008 were excluded by limiting the timespan. When searching for all document types and all WoS core collection citation indexes, we found 107 items; the total citations increased from 714 to 806. (4) Conclusions: Orthopedic publications from Romania have increased in the last decade, but are still low compared to category averages; however, the bibliometric qualitative distribution and patterns mostly resemble that of comparators. Full article

Renal elastography is a real-time ultrasound-based imaging method that can potentially be used in order to assess diffuse diseases of native kidneys. In order to find a place in the clinical practice for renal elastography, what is influencing the obtained results should be known. The kidney shear wave speed is influenced by different factors such as age, gender, measurement depth or urinary pressure. The relationship with renal function and also with renal fibrosis is different across different studies, with not all studies showing an increase in renal stiffness in more advanced renal diseases. However, the changes in renal blood flow seem to influence renal elastography, and a decrease in renal blood flow could be the cause of the decrease in the shear wave speed and could have a bigger influence on elastography compared to renal fibrosis. This paper provides a summary about the factors that seem to influence renal elastography and also regarding the limitations of this method according to the published studies thus far. Full article

This review discusses the current research data on using microRNAs as biomarkers for the diagnostics and screening of Parkinson’s Disease (PD). We provide a comprehensive, critical analysis of the overwhelmingly diverse data on circulant microRNAs associated with PD. We also highlight the possible underlying molecular pathogenesis-related circulant microRNAs in the context of the natural history of PD. Full article

(1) Background: Parents need an increased level of awareness regarding the role of fluoride in maintaining optimal oral health of their children. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the level of parents’ knowledge and behavior towards fluoride administration in children. (2) Methods: an online self-administered Google Forms questionnaire was used. (3) Results: 73.97% did not administer fluoride products to their children. From 16 parents who have given their child local fluoride products, 15.06% made it on the recommendation of the dentist. In total, 71.23% did not know exactly the importance of using fluoride for optimal oral health of the child. In total, 63.01% did not know the possible side effects of excess fluoride. (4) Conclusions: The dentist has an important role to educate the parents and also their children on the appropriate use of fluoride at home and in dental offices, explaining to them the benefits it brings for optimal oral health status and to motivate patients for adequate oral hygiene, proper diet and regular check-ups. Full article